Traders Advised Against Joining Unauthorized Small Cardamom Auctions

21-Aug-2025 04:08 PM

Kochi. The Spices Board of India has issued a strong advisory and urged all the concerned parties, traders and the general public not to participate in the auctions organized for small cardamom and stay away from it.

The Spices Board says that such auctions are a blatant violation of the provisions of the 'Cardamom (Licensing and Marketing) Rules 1987'.

The Board has warned that strict legal action will be taken under the existing regulatory framework against those who buy and sell small cardamom in unlicensed auctions.

Through the advisory, the Board has expressed its resolve to ensure and protect transparency, cleanliness and equality in the business of cardamom in India.

The advisory states that in recent months, the Spices Board has observed that auction sales are being organized by certain firms and establishments in an unethical manner in small cardamom, while it has no authority to do so. There have been some cases where such activity is being conducted by licensed dealers as well.

Under the Cardamom Licensing and Marketing (CLM) Rules, auctions can be conducted only by those individuals or firms which have been officially issued valid licenses by the Spices Board. Such firms are legally allowed to conduct auctions and are recognized as auctioneers or dealers.

Licensed auctioneers are also required to conduct auctions only at the place, date and time approved by the Spices Board. Violation of these rules is not only against the CLM Rules but also affects the market structure. This leads to lack of transparency in trading and affects the price discovery mechanism.

Apart from this, unauthorized auctions adversely affect licensed auctioneers and also cause loss of revenue. Currently, e-auctions are held for small cardamom at Puttady in Kerala and Bodinayakanur in Tamil Nadu. Apart from this, manual auction centers have also been recognized in some other states.